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The Imaginary Invalid by Molière, translated by Doug Skinner, adapted by Tony Award winner Bill Irwin, with direction by Tony Award nominee Brandon J. Dirden, is officially open on Broadway. The production is now running at Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theatre through Sunday, November 22, 2026.
The Imaginary Invalid cast includes Brooks Ashmanskas as “Dr. Diafoirus/Purgon,” Dylan Baker as “Beralde,” Rachel Bloom as “Toinette,” Hiram Delgado as “Bonnefoy/Thomas/Fleurant,” Crystal A. Dickinson as “Beline,” Daniel Croix Henderson as “Cleante,” Bill Irwin as “Argan,” and Ava Lalezarzadeh as “Angelique.”
The creative team includes: Beowulf Boritt (Set Design), Karen Perry (Costume Design), Allen Lee Hughes (Lighting Design), John Gromada (Sound Design and Original Music), Nikiya Mathis (Hair and Wig Design), and Lorenzo Pisoni (Movement Direction). Casting is by Carrie Gardner, Stephen Kopel, and Jillian Cimini. See what the critics are saying…
Jerry Portwood, 1 Minute Critic: While the antics can get shrill and devolve into shrieking (Ava Lalezarzadeh gets especially screechy as daughter Angelique), Brandon J. Dirden’s crisp direction keeps this revival from becoming mere period satire. Irwin’s adaptation includes sly references to primary care physicians and other anachronisms for comic effect.
Kyle Turner, New York Theatre Guide: The ensemble ambles around in search of its contemporary parallels, forgetting to animate the moment the characters are already in. Despite its relevance and potential for loony chaos, this Invalid, much like its protagonist, might need a second opinion.
Adam Feldman, TimeOut: If this production fails to amuse, except in spurts, it isn’t the fault of Molière in general or even this play in particular: Off Broadway’s Red Bull Theater mounted an excellent account of it just last year, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and starring Mark-Linn Baker. The problem is that Irwin and director Brandon J. Dirden try to extend the play’s metatheatrical resonance into an organizing principle, and a message that, paradoxically, takes its own comedy very seriously indeed.
Johnny Oleksinki, New York Post: But the best actor in the play is the person who does the least. That’s Rachel Bloom as Toinette, Argan’s overworked and mistreated maid. Simple and with crystalline diction, the “My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” star is witty and cutting as she buzzes around annoyed by all the nonsense going on in this house of loons.
Can’t blame her.
Charles Isherwood, Wall Street Journal: And, after the thickets of complications have been cleared away to allow for the happy ending comedy requires, Mr. Irwin rises to offer us a final lagniappe to finish the feast, a delicate soft-shoe that brings down the curtain on an endearingly unexpected note.
Melissa Rose Bernardo, New York Stage Review: The most surprising thing about this production: Irwin isn’t playing the clown. (He does, however, manage to work in a nod to commedia dell’arte and a brief soft shoe.) His Argan is the butt of all the jokes, but he’s not part of the controlled chaos swirling around him. Speaking of chaos—and I mean that in the best sense—someone let costume designer Karen Perry run wild and the results are amazing: a crazy-quilt collection of corsets, flouncy overskirts, beribboned breeches, brocade waistcoats, and all kinds of multicolored baroque fabulousness. Smartly, Beowulf Boritt kept the set simple and let the clothing shine.
Michael Sommers, New York Stage Review: Oh, yes, the offstage flushes and noises related to the enemas and flatulence of this imaginary invalid’s regime are neatly provided by sound designer John Gromada, whose lightly Baroque music is far more elegant. A deluxe affair, Roundabout’s rendition of Moliere’s comedy is just what the doctor ordered to brighten autumn in New York.
Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: And, yes, Moliere’s reference to himself is in the original script. Astonishingly, Moliere was acting in the title role of this, his last play, when he collapsed on stage, and died a few hours later.
But Moliere gets the last laugh, because the persistent appeal of Moliere’s plays can allow Bill Irwin to append in his name, a memorable verse of medical advice:
Greg Evans, Deadline: Styles that might butt heads in most contexts fall loonily into place in Irwin’s puckish universe, a place wherein characters can seem possessed by the slapstick-happy ghosts of dead vaudevillians one moment and recite the pointed social commentary of truth-telling jesters the next. Does it always work? More than you’d have a right to expect.
Helen Shaw, The New York Times: I hesitate to lessen the enchantment by telling you that it’s relevant, too. I do think you could very easily enjoy “The Imaginary Invalid” as a hilarious, champagne-light bagatelle and never think about what it suggests about the predatory wellness industry, or about what it means to be ruled by a self-obsessed paterfamilias, who must be duped into thinking of anyone in the younger generation.
But Irwin will not entirely let us leave without thinking.
Robert Hofler, The Wrap: In other words, this revival of “The Imaginary Invalid,” which opened Thursday at the Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theatre, has a bad case of anemia despite Brandon J. Dirden directing the Moliere classic as if it were a screwball comedy. The extravagant costumes, by Karen Perry, would be considered excessive for even the silliest of Rossini’s comic operas.
Average Rating: 67.3%
